Imagination is a very misunderstood concept. It almost seems that we have as a goal of primary education to destroy the natural abilities that we are born with to imagine. In fact, that may also be a goal of most Christian education. Imagination is not a form of fantasizing. It's the ability to reconcile disparate and even apparently contradictory aspects of reality into an integrated reimagined whole.
When we ordain in the PC(USA) we ask candidates about the essential tenets: "Do you sincerely receive and adopt the essential tenets of the Reformed faith as expressed in the confessions of our church as authentic and reliable expositions of what Scripture leads us to believe and do, and will you be instructed and led by those confessions as you lead the people of God?" Hmmmm. But those confessions often seem contradictory so we allow candidates to choose which one(s) makes the most sense to them. If I choose Westminster and you choose Heidelberg and C-67, we aren't likely to agree on some very essential points and we are not going to go down the same path if we are led by one or the other. "Tenets" is probably a word that needs to be replaced. Today in the PC(USA) we don't adopt a system of "fundamentals," but if you do a close reading of certain confessions you might be led to construct a set of fundamentals that would exclude much of the other confessional statements. In the PC(USA) we embrace the breadth of God's revelation throughout history by exposing our prejudices and contradictions and build our faith on them. I used to think that actually receiving and adopting those "essential tenets" was the hard part, but we also ask candidates: "Will you seek to serve the people with energy, intelligence, imagination, and love?" Imagination! That's the key.
I have been very impressed with a book titled "Leadership and Listening" by Donald Zimmer. I don't agree with everything that he says, but the book is an incredible conversation starter. In my case, so far, it's only been an internal conversation. Zimmer's concern is how to define and introduce Christian spiritual practice - especially the practice of seeking discernment - as an organizing and procedural alternative to the usual business model that we follow in church boards and congregations. He has a lot of interesting things to say, and he says this about imagination: "Imagination is built on the facts, truths, and realities of life. Imagination is our capacity to see those facts, truths, and realities with new eyes and to reframe our circumstances in ways that draw forth new insights and meaning. Imagination allows us to keep our whole life connected even if we cannot make it all fit rationally. ... To imagine is to escape the chains that restrict the way we think; it is a gift that must be continually nurtured...."
With imagination - from which we must remove the scar tissue of education - we can take all of our contradictory and conflicted history and look at the world today and tomorrow and ask "What is God saying to us today?" With imagination we can learn to listen for God's word and find our way back into God's will. With imagination we can even learn to find a reunified faith in which peace, unity and purity indeed exist together in our hearts and souls.
When we ordain in the PC(USA) we ask candidates about the essential tenets: "Do you sincerely receive and adopt the essential tenets of the Reformed faith as expressed in the confessions of our church as authentic and reliable expositions of what Scripture leads us to believe and do, and will you be instructed and led by those confessions as you lead the people of God?" Hmmmm. But those confessions often seem contradictory so we allow candidates to choose which one(s) makes the most sense to them. If I choose Westminster and you choose Heidelberg and C-67, we aren't likely to agree on some very essential points and we are not going to go down the same path if we are led by one or the other. "Tenets" is probably a word that needs to be replaced. Today in the PC(USA) we don't adopt a system of "fundamentals," but if you do a close reading of certain confessions you might be led to construct a set of fundamentals that would exclude much of the other confessional statements. In the PC(USA) we embrace the breadth of God's revelation throughout history by exposing our prejudices and contradictions and build our faith on them. I used to think that actually receiving and adopting those "essential tenets" was the hard part, but we also ask candidates: "Will you seek to serve the people with energy, intelligence, imagination, and love?" Imagination! That's the key.
I have been very impressed with a book titled "Leadership and Listening" by Donald Zimmer. I don't agree with everything that he says, but the book is an incredible conversation starter. In my case, so far, it's only been an internal conversation. Zimmer's concern is how to define and introduce Christian spiritual practice - especially the practice of seeking discernment - as an organizing and procedural alternative to the usual business model that we follow in church boards and congregations. He has a lot of interesting things to say, and he says this about imagination: "Imagination is built on the facts, truths, and realities of life. Imagination is our capacity to see those facts, truths, and realities with new eyes and to reframe our circumstances in ways that draw forth new insights and meaning. Imagination allows us to keep our whole life connected even if we cannot make it all fit rationally. ... To imagine is to escape the chains that restrict the way we think; it is a gift that must be continually nurtured...."
With imagination - from which we must remove the scar tissue of education - we can take all of our contradictory and conflicted history and look at the world today and tomorrow and ask "What is God saying to us today?" With imagination we can learn to listen for God's word and find our way back into God's will. With imagination we can even learn to find a reunified faith in which peace, unity and purity indeed exist together in our hearts and souls.
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